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Abby Sunderland on the ocean, the Cousteaus in it

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Please, not another "balloon boy" iteration! Turns out teenage sailor Abby Sunderland’s dad had been talking to reality show producers before his daughter set sail to circumnavigate the globe.

He pulled the plug on the discussions because producers were ‘’relying on her dying,’’ he said, but still – you have to wonder whether Abby would have been encouraged to undertake her perilous journey without the potential of a TV show in the offing.

I’m so glad that our long Friday discussion about the Abby Sunderland venture, and all the consequences, got followed up Monday by "AirTalk." The ‘’reach’’ of this story is as vast as the Indian Ocean – from questions of who should bear the costs of rescuing adventurers to how long a tether to give our children.

Abby Sunderland will be coming home to Thousand Oaks, and this story isn’t going away any time soon, folks.

The Lakers come home Tuesday to try to even it up with the Celtics – as I told KLAC sports radio guy Matt ‘’Money’’ Smith, maybe the Lakers can borrow that Russian physicist psychic [that’s not a typo] the LA Times told the world about. He’s living in Boston, knows virtually nothing about baseball, but the McCourts are paying him to send good juju the Dodgers’ way.

The Lakers have home court advantage, but it may be that the Celtics have the Big Mo. [As to my point on why, in almost every other instance, it’s pronounced ‘’Celtic’’ with a hard ‘’c,’’ but the basketball team pronounces it with a soft ‘’c,’’ there’s a very learned explanation on the Patt Morrison page. See for yourself, and add your words of wisdom.]

Under the heading of ‘’it can’t hurt,’’ I’ll try to remember to wear purple on Tuesday – or at least not to wear green, as I did today.

For Tuesday, the new DWP chief Austin Beutner is here, and so is Jacques Cousteau’s oceanographer son, Jean-Michel, to talk about his father, and about the disgusting things we humans do to the oceans that sustain us.

Previously in Patt Morrison

Patt Morrison – sometimes she kicks butt and takes names, and sometimes she just has a good time talking with her smart and engaging guests, from authors to actors to scientists and politicians and, once in a while, some first-class eccentrics. After all, it’s LA.